Year 5 Pupils from the Strand Primary Academy (image courtesy of ABP/David Lee Photography Ltd
Associated British Ports (ABP) recently hosted a port visit to a group of 17 Year 5 pupils from Strand Primary Academy in Grimsby who are learning about where their food comes from and how it starts on the farm and ends up on our fork.
ABP agreed to take the children on a journey of discovery by giving them a VIP tour of the ports of Grimsby and Immingham.
Matthew Franklin, Assistant Principal of Strand Primary Academy, said: “It’s fantastic to get the children out into a working environment to raise their aspirations. The children are able to see how many job opportunities there are in our local area and it’s great to see them so excited about our heritage.”
The children stopped off at the Grimsby Fish Market where they received a guided tour from CEO Martyn Boyers who gave the children a brief history of Grimsby’s fishing heritage.
The children were given the opportunity to look inside the auction house where the fish are weighed and sold. The group was encouraged to get hands on and find out about the anatomy of fish we regularly consume such as cod, haddock and skate.
After watching a haddock being filleted and getting hands-on with a lobster, the group made their way to ABP’s Port Office where they had a brief lesson on the cargoes ABP handles with an emphasis on food production.
Year 5 pupil Zara, 10 said: “When we set off this morning, I thought Grimsby dock was a bit boring but now that I’ve been, I thought it was so much fun!”
In the afternoon, the children toured the Port of Immingham where they visited Immingham Container Terminal, learning about which products are brought into the dock in containers and then went on to the Immingham Bulk Park, to learn about fertiliser, cane sugar and animal feed.
Richard Claridge, ABP’s Purchasing Assistant, Humber and Strand Primary Academy Governor organised the visit. He said: “Today has been fantastic, the children have had such an educational yet fun filled day.
“The trip really seems to have sparked the imagination of the whole group and many of the children said that they wanted to work on the docks when they grew up. These experiences are priceless for the children and extremely rewarding for us here at ABP.”
ABP is the UK’s leading ports operator with 21 ports and other transport related businesses creating a unique national network capable of handling a vast array of cargo.
Around one quarter of the UK’s seaborne trade passes through ABP’s Statutory Harbour Areas. ABP contributes £5.6 billion to the UK economy every year and supports 84, 000 jobs. Our current investment programme promises to deliver an extra £1.75 billion for the economy every year.
ABP…
- · Handled over 1.6 million vehicles in 2014.
- · Generates around one quarter of the UK’s rail freight
- · Has 1.4 million square metres of covered storage
- · Has 1000 hectares of open storage
- · Handled 94.5m tonnes of cargo in 2014
- · Owns 5000 hectares of port estate
- · Has 87km of quay
Over the next five years, ABP is investing over £650 million in a wide range of major projects across the group.
ABP Humber
The four ports of Grimsby, Immingham, Hull and Goole handle more than 63 million tonnes of cargo between them each year.
Grimsby and Immingham form the UK’s busiest trading gateway and move around 51 million tonnes of cargo per annum.
£130-plus million is currently being invested in the biomass handling terminal in Immingham, in a Humber-wide agreement with Drax Power Ltd that has seen £25 million invested in a biomass handling facility in Hull. The Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal handles sustainable biomass shipments and will create over 100 permanent jobs once complete. The construction phase created 100 employment opportunities.
The Port of Hull handles 10 million tonnes of cargo per annum and is the is the focal point for the development of the UK’s largest offshore wind turbine manufacturing, construction, assembly, and service facility, which will be located on the Port’s Alexandra Dock. This new facility represents a £310 million investment and will create up to 1000 direct jobs.
The Grimsby River Terminal represents an investment of £26 million and allows large car-carrying ships to berth outside the Port’s lock system. This development confirms the Port’s position as the UK’s leading automotive handling facility.
More than the equivalent of 1million teus (twenty foot equivalent unit) of unitised trade is shipped through ABP Humber ports.
Ro-ro and container traffic represents more than 30 sailings a week to Europe, Scandinavia the Baltic and beyond.
The Humber ports handle more than 70 freight train movements per day.
Goole is situated 50 miles upriver and is the UK’s premier inland port. It handles over one million tonnes of cargo annually
